The coca plant is a cultivated shrub, generally found in the Andean Highlands and the northwestern areas of the Amazon in South America. The plant, however, can be grown in many parts of the world and in the early part of the twentieth century much of the cocaine used in medicine was obtained from plants grown in Asia. Of the more than 200 species of the genus Erythroxylon, only E. coca variety ipadu, E. novogranatense, and E. novogranatense variety truxillense contain significant amounts of COCAINE, ranging from 0.6 to 0.8 percent. In addition to cocaine, the leaves of the coca plant contain eleven other ALKALOIDS, although no others are extracted for their euphorogenic effects.

Coca plants have long histories of use for both their medicinal and stimulant effects. Coca leaves are believed to have been used for well over a millenium, since archeological evidence from Peruvian burial sites of...